It's a 21^st-century truism that the Internet was made for two things: watching porn and posting funny pictures of your cat. So you may not be surprised to learn that these two cardinal entertainments have melded into a disturbing YouTube subculture: the masturbating-pet video. This one, typical of the genre, shows the family kitty in lascivious repose, legs outstretched. Lest you wonder how to take this intimate scene, the breathy musical score—"Je t'aime … moi non plus" by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin—tells you: It's funny.

Masturbating-pet videos aren't always so stagey. In this one, of a female dog spontaneously humping a stuffed animal, the humor comes from the idea that the pet isn't pleasuring herself so much as making a silly mistake. ("Oh, she is so stupid," says one observer.) The laughter that ensues sounds mean-spirited.